COONS ENDORSED IN SECRET SESSION

The New Castle County Democrats' executive committee
went behind closed doors Wednesday evening to take a
secret vote endorsing Christopher A. Coons for county
executive over Sherry L. Freebery.

After the secret session, the officers refused to
release the tally. It was described only as an
"overwhelming endorsement" by Vice Chair James F. Paoli,
filling in for Chair John D. Daniello, who is
hospitalized with a broken hip.

As soon as Paoli announced the outcome, Freebery and
her followers, who included County Executive Thomas P.
Gordon, walked out of the room in protest.

For Coons, it seemed an odd way to begin a candidacy
he formally declared two days earlier by promising
"ethical leadership."

The endorsement gives Coons the party's official
backing in a showdown with Freebery that seems destined
to last until the primary election on Sept. 11, when the
voters will decide on a nominee to run against
Republican Christopher J. Castagno for a four-year term.
The office is open because Gordon is barred from a third
term.

The Democratic executive committee postponed a vote
in the three-way race for New Castle County Council
president with Paul G. Clark, Penrose Hollins and Dianne
M. Kempski.

The meeting, held at Democratic state headquarters in
New Castle, attracted an unusually large crowd of about
90 people who looked as though they were ready for a
political meeting. Their numbers were dotted with Coons'
backers in white t-shirts and Freebery's in dark blue.

Both candidates were present. Coons, the County
Council president who has worked within the Democratic
hierarchy, went into the evening expecting to take the
vote from Freebery, the chief aide in an administration
that largely has distanced itself from the party.

As Coons said beforehand, "I have worked very hard to
earn the endorsement."

Freebery knew it. "I'm really just trying to block
one," she said.

Only the members of the executive committee, which
appeared to have about 25 people in attendance, were
eligible to vote. As it was about to be taken, Hollis
Anglin asked for a secret session, which was approved
unanimously. The committee members closeted themselves
for 35 minutes to cast their ballots, and no one else,
including the candidates, was allowed in.

Paoli said afterwards that some of the members "felt
a little more comfortable" in private. Anglin said he
called for it "for the sake of the democratic process."

Neither candidate claimed to want a closed-door vote.
Freebery labeled it undemocratic, saying, "These are
supposed to be open meetings, and they just went and had
a secret meeting. It sure looks kind of rigged to me.
It's an embarrassment to the Democratic Party."

Coons called the secret session unnecessary but said
it was done that way because "there was significant
concern that [the meeting] would get unruly."

Before and after the vote, however, there was not so
much as a raised voice. Freebery did raise her eyebrows
on the way out, but it did not seem particularly
disruptive.